The present application is a division from U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/661,890, filed Sep. 15, 2003, now U.S. Pat. No. 7,059,346 the entire disclosure being part of the disclosure of this application and being hereby incorporated by reference herein, and relates to an assembly for connecting two adjacent liquid collection basins and, more particularly, to an assembly comprising a flume that is utilized to connect two adjacent liquid collection basins.
The present invention addresses a need in connecting adjacent liquid collection basins in devices such as cooling towers. Known connection assemblies comprise a flume of a generally rectangular configuration, usually comprised of galvanized sheet metal or stainless steel. The known connection assembly is shown in prior art FIG. 5 wherein front wall 110 of the first liquid collection basin is seen to have opening 112 of a generally rectangular shape. An adjacent liquid collection basin front wall 114 includes a similar generally rectangular opening 116. Connection flume 120 is seen to comprise a generally rectangular assembly having a top section, a bottom section, and two joining side sections. As mentioned above, connection flume 120 is usually comprised of galvanized sheet metal, stainless steel or similar sheet metal. Connection flume 120 is seen to include an inwardly bent flange 122 on one side of connection flume 120 and an inwardly bent flange 124 on the opposite side of connection flume 120. A plurality of bolt holes 132 are present in inward flange 122, and a plurality of bolt holes 136 are present in inward flange 124 of connection flume 120. A plurality of bolt holes 130 are present around opening 116 in side wall 114 of the second liquid collection basin. Similarly, a plurality of bolt holes 134 are present around opening 112 inside wall 110 of the first liquid collection basin.
A sealant 126 is placed around inward flange 122 and inward flange 124. Connection flume 120 must be affixed to sidewall 110 of the first water collection basin and then sidewall 114 of the second liquid collection basin can be moved into abutman with inward flange 122 of connection flume 120. Due to the construction of the liquid collection basins and the flume, this usually requires that the entire liquid collection basin structure to be assembled, usually as part of an entire cooling tower, prior to the movement of the adjacent collection basin side wall 114 into contact with connection flume 120. This is an undesirable requirement. Further, it is difficult to assure that no gaps in sealant 126 are present, and leaks along the interface between inward flange 122 and sidewall 114 and inward flange 124 and sidewall 110 are known to occur.